Listening to the repeating broadcasts and seeing the warning signs flashing on phones and TVs,
Su Ze stood on the balcony, glumly lighting a cigarette.
During the ten years since the mysterious advent, such sudden disasters had become extremely frequent, with the last one occurring just seven months ago.
That disaster was also a blood moon, which was also its first appearance.
At that time, Huaxia didn't know how to deal with the blood moon, resulting in devastating losses that year.
Moreover, as the blood moon progressed, the emerging spirits became increasingly powerful.
Just then, his phone rang.
"Su Ze, tonight you will be solely responsible for guarding District Seven of Dust City. Please ensure the safety of District Seven's residents during the blood moon!"
"The reinforcements coming to Dust City are the Huaxia Ghost Officers and the Wandering Troupe. If you can't hold on, request backup through the communication channel."
This was a call from the Forerunner leader.
Dust City was a second-tier city divided into eight districts, with District Seven being Su Ze's jurisdiction.
"Understood," Su Ze hung up the phone.
During the blood moon, hundreds of spirits would roam. No one knew how long this blood moon would last, and the hundred spirits referred to various types of ghosts spread under the crimson moonlight!
They devoured humans.
Su Ze didn't know how many would die during the blood moon, but he knew the aftermath would be catastrophic.
Dusk arrived.
During this time, many people called Su Ze, with quite a few requesting his transfer to guard their districts.
He politely declined them all.
For some reason, since returning home yesterday, Uesugi Akizuki had been lying listlessly in bed. If she hadn't come to eat after Su Ze cooked, he would have thought she was paralyzed.
"I'll be out tonight, will you be okay sleeping alone?" Su Ze asked.
Uesugi Akizuki stared at him, not responding for a long while. Eventually, with darkness in her eyes, she tugged at Su Ze's clothes, her voice very soft and gentle, "...scared."
These days, she had grown dependent on Su Ze. Last time, that girl was her dependency. She thought that girl would always protect her, but when the girl suddenly left and never returned, she realized how helpless she was.
The girl had said the same thing as Su Ze.
"Wait here, I'll come back for you."
Finally, even after dark, the girl never returned. She could only curl up alone under a streetlight, trying to use the light to drive away her fears.
Though the girl was naive, she wasn't completely foolish... at least not too foolish.
At that time, she was consumed by fear, and when Su Ze offered her a safe place, she followed him.
That was because the girl had lost her support, and her fear at the time made her irrationally trust Su Ze, as her blank-slate mind left her no choice. Even a three-year-old would hesitate and think, but she only had three days' worth of memories.
Su Ze took out a walkie-talkie and handed it to her, pointing at the button, "Press this and speak into it, and I'll be able to hear you."
The girl studied it for a while, pressed the button, and Su Ze's walkie-talkie produced static. She hesitated, then blew into the walkie-talkie, making Su Ze's device produce whooshing sounds. A delighted smile immediately appeared on her face.
She was afraid of getting tired, so instead of speaking, she just blew into the walkie-talkie.
Su Ze couldn't help but smile as he patted her head, praising her, "Very clever."
Night fell, and a half crimson moon rose above the horizon.
Every household had their doors and windows tightly locked. The blood-colored moonlight illuminated every corner of the streets, while countless people trembled in their homes. They had experienced a blood moon before and understood how terrifying this natural disaster could be.
Su Ze sat on the rooftop, carrying a black long case on his back. His pupils glowed with a molten gold light, burning like candle flames as he surveyed District Seven under his jurisdiction.
Suddenly, his walkie-talkie transmitted whooshing wind sounds. Su Ze couldn't help but smile as he also blew into his walkie-talkie.
In the room, Uesugi Akizuki heard the whooshing sounds from the walkie-talkie, and a happy smile appeared on her face.
This was their agreement - to communicate every ten minutes until Uesugi Akizuki fell asleep.
Watching the rising blood moon,
Su Ze took down the long case from his back and leaped several meters, continuously moving between the buildings of District Seven, his gaze constantly scanning the surroundings as his spiritual awareness rapidly expanded.
Suddenly, a five-meter spatial rift opened in a distant park, and a huge, withered hand reached out.
Su Ze jumped hundreds of meters into the air, his form suddenly blurring as an identical person emerged from his body, replacing him to continue patrolling.
This was his clone, not a physical entity but rather something like a projection - visible but intangible.
However, he could freely transfer his main body to the clone's position. It was like the clone was an empty box, visible but intangible, and the main body could transfer to the clone's position with just a thought. This way, the clone would become the main body.
And the original position of the main body would become the visible but intangible clone.
He shared sensory perception with his clone.
Su Ze rushed quickly toward the spatial rift.
The owner of the giant hand slowly crawled out of the spatial rift - a five-meter-tall spirit with rotting skin exposing bones and internal organs beneath, emitting a nauseating stench of decay. It held a giant axe and had one deformed small foot, moving by hopping, yet extremely agile, able to jump dozens of meters in a single bound.
Gripping the seven or eight-meter-long giant axe, the one-legged ghost leaped hundreds of meters and chopped down fiercely at a house below!
At that moment, a figure suddenly appeared beneath its target. Su Ze's molten gold pupils, glowing faintly, were calm and bright under the blood-colored moonlight.
He leaped up, dodging the giant axe coming toward him by moving sideways, reached above its head, and struck down with one slash!
With a bang, the one-legged ghost's reaction was also extremely quick. Under that slash, it raised its giant axe to block the attack but was still sent flying backward by Su Ze's powerful strength, crashing into the ground.
Su Ze sensed that the opponent was a spirit at the mid-stage of the Candle Realm.
The realm levels were: Firefly Realm, Candle Realm, Lamp Realm, Rolling Flame Realm...
Su Ze was at the peak of the Candle Realm, just one step away from the Lamp Realm, but that step was like crossing an insurmountable gap!
"Two choices: one, die; two, go back," Su Ze slowly walked toward the one-legged ghost.
Meanwhile, countless spatial rifts continued appearing throughout District Seven. The patrolling first clone's form blurred, creating a second clone, and together they created third and fourth clones, and so on. Dozens of clones immediately ran toward those spatial rifts.
Intense battle shockwaves erupted from the nearby District Eight, where the guardian there had also engaged in combat with spirits.
Suddenly, Su Ze's earpiece transmitted a voice.
"District One of Dust City requesting support! District One requesting sup... *slash*!"
Following the sound of a throat being cut, less than an hour into the battle, the earpiece connected to all Dust City guardians fell silent.
Soon after, an extremely calm voice came through the earpiece.
"Huaxia Ghost Officer Shi Liang, en route to reinforce District One."
It's worth mentioning that the Huaxia Ghost Officers were an extremely notorious organization. All other organizations in Huaxia generally described them as:
"A patient support group."
"An asylum."
"A den of bandits."
"Licensed bandits."
"Bandits with legal robbery rights."
"An extremely mysterious bandit organization."
Su Ze had wanted to join the band... the Ghost Officers back then, but was rejected. They had asked him:
"Are you... mentally ill?"
Su Ze answered, "No."
"Next."
It wasn't until he joined the Forerunners that he understood what kind of organization the Ghost Officers were - they didn't accept normal people.